Born in Würzburg, Germany, Dirk Werner Nowitzki comes from an athletic family: his mother Helga (née Bredenbröcker) was a professional basketball player and his father Jörg-Werner was a handball player who represe… See more

When Nowitzki joined the team, DJK played in Germany's second-tier level league, the Second Bundesliga, South Division. His first trainer was Pit Stahl, who played the tall teenager as an outside-scoring forward rather than … See more

Nowitzki began playing for the German national basketball team in 1997. In his debut tournament, the EuroBasket 1999, the 21-year-old rookie emerged as the main German scorer, but Germany finished seventh an… See more